FIRE AND RESCUE

San Diego's system for providing fire and emergency medical services has been underfunded for many years. While the city has grown enormously, San Diego has not devoted needed resources to the problem. Since 1980, call volume has increased nearly 300% but staffing levels have only risen 16%. The number of firefighters per 1,000 population has actually gone down in that period, from .8 to .69. In District 3, the number of firefighters protecting us is even lower-between .07 and .33 per thousand population, depending on the station serving you. We also need more staff, fire stations, fire engines, fire trucks and other equipment.

In addition to responding to fires, our firefighters also perform a second vital service-they are emergency medical technicians and paramedics. In fact, more than 80% of 911 calls are medical in nature. As our response times continue to erode, emergency services take longer to reach you. When a loved one has had a heart attack or a child is choking and needs help, there is no more important service provided by the City of San Diego.

We have seen our fire and emergency response system tested twice recently in catastrophic wildfires that we were told were "100 year fires." We have asked our firefighters to protect us with limited resources and they have responded heroically. However, we can not continue to play this dangerous game, especially since we have had two 100 year fires in five years. That's why I have listed Public Safety as one of my top three priorities if I am elected your Councilmember, and that's why I will fight to:

Improve conditions and services at Station 17 on Chamoune Avenue. Station 17 is the busiest station in San Diego and one of the busiest in the country, yet it has subpar conditions for our firefighters and doesn't have enough fire engines to serve us properly. Approximately 25% of the time, the engine company from this station is not available because those firefighters and their equipment are already dispatched to an incident, requiring help to come from a greater distance. We must acquire funding to rebuild this station and provide enough firefighters so that the communities around it are adequately protected.

Make sure developers pay their fair share of our fire and medical services needs. For too long the City has rubber-stamped environmental documents, saying projects have no impact on emergency services when they clearly do. It is time for this process to stop and for us to truly include the costs of providing emergency services when we consider new projects.

Improve Brush Management Efforts. The results of the 2007 wildfires are very clear: landscaping and brush management are critical in saving homes and structures during a fire. I will work with the fire chief to develop brush management plans for our district, where canyons and dense housing put us at a particular risk if a fire got out of control.

Permanently fund a second helicopter for San Diego. San Diego has one helicopter, and efforts are underway to acquire a second helicopter. We must continue public and private funding efforts since fire protection from the air would be critical in District 3 during a wildfire.

Develop a 10 year plan to bring San Diego's fire and rescue system up to par. We can't fix our problems overnight-they are too big. We also can't keep ignoring them. It is time to identify our priorities as well as funding sources so that we can make progress over time.

For more information about our fire and medical services, go to http://www.sandiego.gov/fireandems/index.shtml.

To schedule a presentation for a group on fire and emergency services in your own community, call the San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 at (619) 563-6161.